At the beginning of this year I was all excited about a new sculpture being completed in the spring. In anticipation of showing it off, I decided to take a table at the Artisan’s Gallery during the 3-day BreyerFest extravaganza in July. Well, best laid plains have a habit of going astray for me and this spring was no exception. The sculpture is completely not happening, I’ve lost my sculpture mojo, again.

Because I was committed to the AG exhibit space, after getting back to the studio from two months of travel, I decided to glaze some chinas. I need to get more of the significant whiteware pieces in my archive glazed and out in the world.

This feels like a more urgent mission recently, because among other sucky things in my life the past couple years, I was diagnosed with a disease in my right hand, where eventually the middle and ring fingers of my hand will contract tightly down towards my palm. Hopefully not for decades, but it’s progressing. (I’m turning 60 next year and getting old is a ton of craaaap!!) Anyway, I can’t guarantee that I’ll even be able to use my right hand for painting or sculpting within 10 years. The few options for this disease including surgery are not very impressive, and they can’t do anything to arrest the progression; they only do surgery etc. when the fingers actually start to contract! Like I said, sucky! Oh and on top of that I’m getting arthritis in both hands, starting with the thumbs. YAY!

I did get a few things glazed in the month of June, but because I am SLOW, not as much as I would have liked. Here are three pieces that are going to be for sale at my BF AG table at the Clarion hotel in Lexington.

The AG opens Thursday July 12th at 5:30pm, and then is open from 7:30pm on Friday and Saturday nights. I will sell to the first person that can pay in full, in person, either PayPal or cash. No pre-holds or time payments.

If you can’t get to BreyerFest this year, don’t despair because I plan to keep on glazing ceramics. It will be a priority because I have a lot of beautiful pieces that need to get glazed. I was feeling panicky about getting one more sculpture done NOW in case I can’t do it anymore someday soon, which probably is a big reason why the horse didn’t come out right at all. I can’t work on things like that unhappy or under pressure. So now I’m not sure if I even want to try for a new work. I probably need to work through some issues regarding what being an artist means to me for the latter part of my life! But I did always think that even if I was in a wheel chair and couldn’t snowboard or hike or walk or whatever, I could still use my hands to draw or paint or make stuff! Life is full of surprises.

Believe it or not even after the previous depressing paragraphs I am NOT depressed. I am generally a think-positive person and I am just going forward to whatever’s next with clear eyes and optimism to make lemonade out of lemons.

BUT I DIGRESS! On to the BF goodies, such as they are.

Oh… and here’s a peek at the Hagen-Renaker 9″ Zara (re-issue) that I did NOT get finished, but which I will be painting this summer. I own so many other nice chinas to glaze so stay tuned to this space!

Hagen-Renaker 6″ “Zara” Arabian Mare

This (was) a San Dimas era H-R Zara in light grey, satin finish, with no breaks, but a minor chip in two hoof edges. I have custom overglazed her to a dapple grey, 3 socks, blaze. Much added detailing to mane, tail, and forelock, completely repainted the eyes, and finished off with a light coat of gloss glaze. A decal has been fired onto the belly that states “Painted by Karen Gerhardt, 2018”, which will identify this piece as CMG.
Asking $1100.00

“Roundabout” Heavyweight British Show Cob

This is my 2011 sculpture, cast in earthenware china. There have only been 16 pieces made so far of this work. Roundabout is hard to cast from his molds, so I’m not sure how many more I will be making. This one has been customized at the greenware clay stage to be a mare, rather than a gelding. She has been glazed to a lovely shaded chestnut tobiano with one blue eye. Reference photos for the color pattern will come with the horse, which was on a Gypsy Cob.
Asking $650.00

Hagen-Renaker “Ferseyn” Arabian Stallion

This is a fun piece for H-R fans. A recent re-issue from Hagen-Renaker, it was originally a glossy white with light grey points. It was a good candidate for overglazing, because the gloss glaze was very heavily applied, and not all that carefully. (Note: The finish does have a few tiny pinholes.) It was not that great of an OF piece for collectors. I gave him a gorgeous deeply shaded airbrushed silver bay color. The mane and tail have hand-painted detail enhancements. His eyes have been repainted, there’s a star and one sock. A decal has been fired onto the belly that states “Painted by Karen Gerhardt, 2018”, which will identify this piece as CMG.
Asking $450.00

“Okie Clay” Blue Art Glaze

I’ve had this piece in my collection for awhile, and I decided to bring him along. This is an “Okie Clay” earthenware china foal sculpted by Carol Williams and produced by Pour Horse. The left hind leg had broken, but I was able to make a kiln-repair (where I fix the break using gloss glaze over the break and fire in the kiln). It came out well enough (you can still feel a crease in the leg if you’re looking for it) that I gave it a fun and interesting art-glaze blue, with black points.
Asking $150.00

Two Free Drawings

Followers of my Facebook page will remember this guy:

This “Heart of Darkness” earthenware came out of the kiln with a slightly bent leg. So I used him to test some art glazes, with this crazy result! Rather than keep him around as reference for the glazes (or at least as studio mascot), I’m giving him away in a free drawing at the AG.

I am also giving away a bone china “Boreas” Percheron head, in glossy unpainted white. It has a hole in the back for hanging on a plaque etc. This is one of only two of these that I have left.

You can put your name in for these for a free drawing at my table, one chance per person. I’ll be drawing for each item at 9:00pm on Friday night July 14th. Must be present to win!

I hope to see you in two weeks!